I stepped on the scale today and weighed in at a lean 266.. strange after having my roommates girlfriend tell me that it looks like I'm losing weight. At any rate, I bought a horse mask and I want to get a picture of me wearing it while I squat. I'll throw that up here as soon as that happens.

I left my usual suit at home so I had to use the one that I usually use to deadlift. The reason that I like it to deadlift is the same reason why it's not great for squatting. It provides very little support through the hips. Oh well. On to benching.

TallCanz wrote:I was spent afterwards so I cut it short on accessory work.

This is often the case for me, do you normally do a fair bit of accessory work?

I try to do my main lift and then another big, multi-joint lift as an accessory exercises afterwards that would benefit the big lift of the day. If I squat, I'll usually do either front squats, good mornings, snatch grip deadlifts, stiff legged deadlifts, or speed pulls. If I'm benching, I'll usually do some sort of overhead press or higher rep (~5) board work. If I'm deadlifting, either raw speed pulls, RDL's, low-box squats, or high rep (~20) ATG squats. After all of that, I'll usually try to throw in 2-3 additional assistance exercises if I have the time.

I'm just about to get my squat suit out, looking forward to it. My knees are already begging for the wraps haha. Keep up the stellar work with your training ~ when's your next meet?

They're both old suits from the sponsored pros at the gym that have since received new equipment. The suit that I'm using to deadlift in now is from my friend Jo. He gave it to me to borrow about a month or so ago. I'm still breaking it in and learning how to use it, but I think with some serious practice and attention to GHR's and hip strength, I can probably pull some serious weight.

I like the suits personally. They have a lot of carry over to the raw work as well. It's a great way to overload yourself and get your CNS adapted to handing a greater amount of weight. There's a lot of work that goes into using them though. It's not just throwing on a suit and being able to squat an additional 100 kilos that night, haha. What kind of suit are you getting? I'm using an Metal ProSquater to squat, Metal Jacked squat suit to deadlift, and a Metal Ace bench shirt for.. benching, haha.

The plan right now is to do this Push-Pull competition at the gym and compete in the bench only portion at the end of this month. Hoping to hit 500 lbs for an 80 lb. PR. I'll be doing a full power meet at the end of February as well.

Deadlifting this afternoon. Came in determined and feeling good about getting a good PR from the floor today. The progress over the past few weeks lead me to believe that I should skip out on trying to pull from 1" from the floor and just go for the gusto, so to speak. I'm happy that I did.

135 x 10 x 2225 x 5Add belt315 x 5Add suit, straps up365 x 3 - felt great! No discomfort and I felt like I was in the right position.405 x 3 - Took video and my back was in a correct, neutral position throughout the duration of the pull.455 x 1 - Easy495 x 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwsGCBq8sV4&feature=plcp Very pleased with how this felt. No discomfort in my lower back. My upper back had a slight curve to it, but that can be expected with heavier weight. My raw max is 485, so it felt great to be going a little heavier. With the ease that the weight came up, I figured I had a little more in the tank so I talked to my friend Chris who was taking the video and decided to go heavier.

525 - failed a lockout. Had I just pushed my hips forward about an inch, I would have had this! Frustrating, but there is still time to improve. I ripped the weight off of the floor and it moved quickly all the way up until that point so I decided to go again. Due to technical difficulties, I didn't get this one on video. 525 - failed again but this time a little bit shorter than lockout. Here's the video of the slightly slower, slightly more embarrassing attempt - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8H_Wco1dEw&feature=plcp

The way that the suits are designed will give you the support off of the bottom, but right at about 3" off of the floor is where I stop benefiting from them. It's a great way to build up some momentum, but this was an eye opening experience. I've been neglecting rack pulls for quite some time now so I really need to get back into pulling out of the rack in order to gain some lockout strength. Some hip work and getting a little stronger, more voluptuous butt will probably help. I doubt the girlfriend will mind either. Luckily there is still time. With the way that everything moved prior to the lockout, I am going to try to shoot for 525 being my second attempt at the February meet.